Snip!
by sapphire-child
Summary: The reasoning behind Charlie’s dramatically shortened fringe in Further Instructions and Claire’s new fringe in Every Man For Himself. Lovely and fluffy.


Title: Snip!  
Genre: fluff  
Spoilers: 2x23 up to 3x04  
Summary: The reasoning behind Charlie's dramatically shortened fringe in "Further Instructions" and Claire's new fringe in "Every Man For Himself".  
Disclaimer: The idea is mine – the characters etc. however are not.

* * *

Claire shrugged somewhat sheepishly as she wriggled a little bit closer to Charlie, a gentle blush warming her cheeks. Charlie felt his face break into a goofy grin as his eyes found their hands, still twined together. The reality of the previous moment was beginning to catch up with him, the imprint of her lips on his had left a feeling of supreme warmth. Even as he toyed with his Driveshaft ring, playing it cool, he felt like jumping up and down and whooping triumphantly.

She had kissed him.

_She_ had kissed _him_. Maybe she didn't hate him so much after all, maybe she was willing to forgive him – let him back into her life. The thought made him glow a little – and not just from the blush in his cheeks. That familiar place where Claire resided, constantly in his heart, was beginning to flicker hopefully, warming him from the inside out.

After a very long moment of afterglow, he spoke.

'So I uh…' he cleared his throat of nerves and hesitantly caught her gaze. 'I gather this means that we're back on speaking terms again then?'

Claire responded with a shy smile, biting her lip endearingly. 'I guess so.'

Charlie nodded slowly, trying hard to suppress his glee. 'Good.'

A second, slightly more comfortable silence fell between the two of them and Charlie took a moment to simply revel in the sensation of her hand warming his and her body so close beside his.

'Charlie?'

His heart jumped up into his throat and goosebumps unwittingly erupted all over his arms. It was only two syllables but she hadn't said his name like that in the longest time. There was a supreme fondness to her tone but it was still tinged with a slight uncertainty that was as inherent in her voice now as the day he had brought her tea and told her that he wanted to be her friend – so long ago.

'Yes?'

Claire struggled with herself for a long moment and Charlie wished that he knew what the hell she was thinking. He was – understandably – still a little bit dazed from everything that had happened at the hatch and it was doing nothing for him now when he most wanted to be alert. Finally Claire looked up and met his eyes, laughing a little and clearly not about to say what she had actually been thinking.

'I think tomorrow morning we're gonna have to cut this hair of yours,' as she spoke, she brought a hand up to his bangs and brushed them away from his eyes, much the same as she had done earlier. 'It's getting in your eyes.'

'I already cut a bit off myself,' Charlie said somewhat defensively. 'Do you know how hard it is to cut your own hair without a decent sized mirror?'

'Well I could neaten it up a bit,' Claire offered. 'It still looks horribly dishevelled. And if we took a bit more length off it then it'd take longer to grow out too.'

Charlie considered the offer for a moment, raising his eyes to look at the offending fringe that had been secretly plaguing him for weeks before looking back down at Claire who was busily looking pensive, her lips pressed together. 'I suppose it could do with a bit more off it. But only if I get to cut yours too.'

Claire laughed. 'My hair doesn't need cutting! You're the one who looks like a scruff!'

'A _what_?' Charlie laughed back at her. 'What the hell is a scruff?'

Claire folded her arms stubbornly, taking her hand out of his. 'If you're just going to make fun of me then I'm going to stop talking to you again.'

'Well…' Charlie compromised. 'If you aren't talking to me do I still get kissing privileges?'

Claire rolled her eyes. 'You're such a _boy_ sometimes.'

Charlie grinned at her. 'At least I'm not a girly boy.' Claire chuckled lightly and Charlie saw her eye his fringe again. He rolled his eyes. 'Claire, if you want to cut my hair you're more than welcome to – I just think that one good turn deserves another.' Claire eyed him uncertainly and Charlie added, slightly pleadingly. 'Just your fringe?'

'I don't even _have_ a fringe Charlie.' Claire pointed out.

Charlie grinned at her. 'Well no, not yet you don't.'

Claire rolled her eyes at him yet again and Charlie sobered slightly. 'What is it? Don't you trust me?'

Claire went very still and Charlie snapped his mouth shut – suddenly afraid of her answer. It hadn't even been a fortnight since he had stolen Aaron from her and nearly drowned him – and not just once, he'd done it twice. Mentally he slapped himself in the head for effectively reminding her of his shortcomings so soon after she had seemingly forgiven him. When the hell was he going to learn to keep his mouth shut?

But Claire was nodding her head slowly, although she had an unsure frown on her face and she wasn't looking at him. 'Yes.'

Charlie's brow creased. 'Yes you trust me or yes you don't trust me?'

Claire met his eyes and offered him a small smile. 'I probably shouldn't trust you…but I do.'

Charlie's insides practically dissolved with relief.

'So…will you let me cut your fringe?'

Claire hesitated only a moment before nodding her consent.

'Okay?' Charlie asked, hardly daring to believe it.

'Yeah. Yeah okay.' A hidden smile graced Claire's features.

Charlie beamed widely back at her and then leant forward daringly to return the kiss she had given him earlier, pressing his lips against hers for the briefest moment he could muster before pulling away. Claire looked pleased but remarkably shy as she glanced over at Aaron's cradle and then back to Charlie.

'I hate to cut this short and all, but I really need to be getting him back home to bed,' she said apologetically. 'It's been a long day.'

'I'll bet his mummy's tired too eh?' Charlie said lightly and Claire sighed affirmatively as she stood. Charlie automatically moved to help her manoeuvre Aaron's crib back to her shelter – much the same as he had helped her move it closer to the fire earlier in the evening.

'Thanks Charlie,' Claire pushed a flyaway curl back from her face. 'I'll see you in the morning?'

Charlie saluted her jokingly. 'You most certainly will.'

Claire smiled and then hesitated before reaching up on tiptoe to plant a final kiss on his cheek. Her hands lingered on his face for a moment before she stood back from him, unwillingly breaking the physical contact between them. 'You take care of yourself okay? And if your hearing gets any worse or you feel sick or anything during the night I want you to come and let me know okay?'

Charlie nodded and Claire pushed her hands into her pockets. 'Okay.' She smiled and nodded at him before disappearing into her shelter. Charlie turned and headed to his own shelter but when he reached it, he found himself continuing to walk until he was standing in the stillness of the half finished church.

The moon was high and bright that evening, a crescent of luminous white against the dark sky and Charlie gazed up at it for a moment, lost in his own thoughts, before he bowed his head and brought his hands together in a prayer attitude, whispering a silent thank you to whoever might be listening.

* * *

'Good morning!'

Claire looked up from the bundle in her arms and smiled widely at her approaching visitor. 'Morning? It's more like _afternoon_ now but whatever.'

Charlie grinned at her as she put her son down into his crib and tucked him in. 'I think I was deserving of a bit of a sleep in after yesterday,' he confessed as he knelt down beside Claire and reached a hand to tuck one of Aaron's arms into his blanket without even thinking. 'The ringing in my ears has nearly stopped now though. That's quite nice – I like being able to hear properly again.'

Claire beamed at her son as he settled himself down quietly and then she turned to Charlie, her smile softening into an expression of trepidation and her hand reaching to touch his. 'How's your head this morning? Do you have a headache?'

Charlie shrugged. 'I'm fine.' When Claire continued to look worried however, he continued to speak, reassuring her. 'Like I said, the ringing is still there a little bit and my knuckles and elbows sting like all buggery where they got all scraped up but apart from that I'm okay.'

Claire nodded and then a smile stole across her lips. 'Well if you're feeling better then we'd best sit you down.'

Charlie allowed himself to be led over to her bed and sat down, a puzzled smile on his face. 'What's up? You have some terrible dark secret to spill that you think'll make me fall over from the shock?'

'Nope,' Claire hunted through her bag and came up with a pair of scissors hooked through the fingers on her right hand. She snipped at the air cheerfully. 'It's time for you to have your hair cut and you're too tall to stand up while I do it.'

Charlie grinned at her as she leant towards him and began to pull his fringe out straight between her fingers. He seemed to have procured a few blades of reed-like beach grass from his pocket and he began twisting several pieces together in complicated knots as Claire worked. 'You know, I think that's the first time anyone's _ever_ told me that I'm tall.'

'Well,' Claire tilted her head from side to side for a moment before beginning to snip away carefully. 'When you're as short as I am you kind of have to get people to come down to your level sometimes.'

Charlie screwed his eyes shut as his hair began to fall into his eyes and his hands stilled slightly on the grass in his hands.

'I don't think I can bear to look.'

Claire scoffed. 'And you were worried about _me_ trusting _you_! If you're that worried about it then I'll just trim your fringe back and then we can see about the rest of it okay?'

Several more snips of the scissors and a quick final inspection and the job was done. Claire brushed a few stray cuttings off his face and then moved to dispose of the scissors. When she turned back, Charlie had opened one eye and was peeking at her from underneath his somewhat depleted fringe. 'Is it safe to open my eyes yet? Or do you still need to blow dry it and put some styling product in it?'

Claire giggled as he ran a hand over his forehead and mussed his new fringe, his eyes widening with surprise.

'Good Lord…you've set a lawnmower onto me!'

'I think it looks good.' Claire said defensively.

Charlie ran a perplexed hand over his fringe several times and glanced up at her imploringly. 'I don't look like a monkey?'

Claire lost herself in fits of giggles again and took his face in her hands. 'I promise you that you do not look like a monkey.'

'Well that's okay then.' Charlie smiled up at her, seemingly satisfied with this but his unrelenting stare soon caused Claire to blush.

'Why are you looking at me like that Charlie?'

He smiled a little wider. 'Because you're beautiful.'

The smile on her face slowly faded as she stroked his cheeks gently and stared into his familiar blue-grey eyes. It seemed almost implausible that only two days ago she had been without him and thought herself better for it. And yet, now that he was back in her life again, the world seemed a little more open and friendly than it had before. She had been glad to see him this morning, her heart performing that silly, happy little hop-skip it seemed to reserve just for him when he had called out his good morning to her.

On a whim, she leant forward and kissed him softly. It seemed like since she'd kissed him the night before, she hadn't been able to stop herself from doing it at every opportunity she had. His lips were sweet against hers as he responded gently to her affections, angling his head just a little. Vaguely, Claire felt his hand brush against her arm as they deepened the kiss slowly.

When Claire straightened up, Charlie's hand lingered on her arm for a moment but then it was back to tying knots again. He grinned up at her, looking remarkably shy for a man who had – in the past – quite unabashedly sung at the top of his lungs and not cared who was listening.

'So when do I get to cut your hair then?' he grinned teasingly at her. Claire's smile faltered momentarily but Charlie didn't seem to notice. His attention had shifted to something behind her in fact – and his face had dropped into a frown. Claire turned, her smile fading completely at the sight of John purposefully beginning to dismantle his shelter.

'When did John get back?' Claire peered intently at him. Charlie stood up and joined her as John began to cut at the vines holding the roof together. Claire frowned even deeper, this time in confusion as John began to drag a large section of his shelter away. 'And what's he doing?'

The two of them watched for a moment longer and then Claire turned to Charlie appealingly. 'Well where's he been? Where's everyone else? Don't you think you should go find out?'

Charlie stared at her, clearly flummoxed, but when it became clear that she wanted him to answer her, he began to sputter. 'Me? Why would _I_ want to go and talk to John?'

'Well for one thing, I need to look after Aaron,' Claire began to compile a list in her head as she spoke. 'I have a ton of washing to do, you just had a sleep in and haven't actually done anything much today apart from get your hair cut and after all you were actually _down_ there at the hatch yesterday so you must know at least a little bit of what happened and…'

Charlie held up his hands defensively. 'Okay I got it! Fine, I'll go and talk to him. Chrissakes…'

Discarding the knotted grass in his hands, Charlie stomped off, muttering to himself. Claire pressed her lips together as she watched him go – feeling a little bit guilty for jumping down his throat so quickly but proud of herself for having avoided getting her fringe cut. She might have said otherwise the night before, but secretly she was still a little bit worried about letting Charlie near her hair with a pair of scissors.

She didn't even think about her promise to him for the rest of the day until he returned with Eko slung between him and John, half-dead. Once she had fetched the first aid supplies and taken a brief stint as an assistant nurse, she had hurried back to her shelter to find Charlie waiting for her, agitatedly twisting his hands together and glancing over at Aaron who was fussing quietly in his crib.

'Why didn't you pick him up?' Claire asked, swooping down upon her son. She had almost forgotten about Aaron in her flustered search for the first aid supplies and brief serving as a nurse but was relieved to know that he'd been watched while she was gone.

Charlie smiled blandly at her. 'Didn't know if I was allowed to. I didn't really fancy getting slapped in the face again.'

Claire jigged Aaron in her arms restlessly. 'Oh. Well feel free to give him a cuddle to calm him down if I'm not here okay?'

Charlie nodded, pleased. 'When I realised you were playing doctors and nurses I figured I might come and watch him for a while for you.'

Claire smiled her thanks. 'I got away as soon as I could.' She paused for a moment before sitting down beside him. 'So what happened out there today?'

'Well,' Charlie scratched his head and then rested his chin in his palm. 'John decided we had to go save Eko's life so we went tromping through the jungle looking for him only to find him we had to track the polar bear that had him…'

'_Polar bear_?' Claire interrupted him but then waved her hand dismissively. 'Oh never mind. Just keep going.'

Charlie shrugged and obliged, a twinkle of laughter in his eye.

'Not a lot else to tell. Stopped by the hatch – or what's left of it anyways – picked Hurley up on the way through, then John went into a cave and attacked the polar bear with a hairspray flamethrower until we had roast bear and then we dragged Eko home again.'

Claire paused to absorb all this and then frowned. 'What do you mean "what's left of the hatch"?'

Charlie sucked in a breath between his teeth. 'How did I know you were going to ask me that? Well…' he looked down at his hands as they began to gesticulate, trying to provide back up for his story. 'It kind of…imploded.'

Claire stared at him sceptically. 'Imploded.'

'Like exploded but the other way,' Charlie supplied helpfully.

'I _know_ what imploded means Charlie,' Claire sniped but then something occurred to her. 'Hang on…if it imploded then how did you all survive?'

Charlie took a long time answering, obviously pondering the same thing himself.

'I'm pretty certain that I was in the jungle when it blew because I didn't see the sky go purple or hear that noise that everyone else seemed to – probably because I was mostly deaf anyways at that point.'

Claire bit her lip. 'And the others?'

Charlie shrugged and glanced at her. 'You'd have to ask them. I have no idea how they would have survived but _anyway_ we have some more important issues to attend to…'

Claire's lips quirked, the inflection in his voice had put her mind on an interesting track. 'Like what?'

'Well…' Charlie reached out and plucked the bobby pins out of the top of her hair, letting her fringe fell into her eyes. 'You promised that you'd let me cut your hair but we ran out of time this morning. So I was hoping that maybe we could have a crack at that now?'

Claire's heart thudded desperately against her ribs as if it was trying to escape but she tried to keep cool. 'Oh, yeah I remember now.' Her voice sounded unnaturally high, even to her. She cleared her throat and tried again. 'Sure. Yeah we'll do that now then.'

Charlie stared at her blankly and then leant back, toying with the bobby pins distractedly. 'You don't want me to do it do you?'

'What? No, I never said that. I just…'

'Just?' Charlie interrupted. 'Just what? You just don't want me to do it?'

Claire felt guilt crawling horribly over her skin like a spider. She felt like her emotions were far too noticeable, like she was giving too much of herself away again – and that was a dangerous thing to do when she was around Charlie.

'Claire,' he leant forward but didn't look her in the eye. 'I know that it's kind of a big deal for you to start trusting me again – but you just said yourself not five minutes ago that you'd trust me to look after Aaron again…' he glanced up at her and laughed. 'And now you're freaking out because I want to cut your fringe?'

Claire dropped her eyes, embarrassed. 'I'm sorry Charlie. I'm being stupid. I'm just…very attached to my hair.'

'Hey,' Charlie reached forward and took a lock of the aforementioned between his fingers. 'I understand that – I really do. But you did promise me. And I promise you that I won't cut it crooked.'

Claire stood abruptly, her mind going at a million miles an hour as she put Aaron into his crib. Charlie sighed and began to mutter to himself, something about going and filling up his water bottle, changing the subject. 'Charlie…' Claire interrupted him and he fell silent. She turned around slowly, her hands pressed deep into the pockets of her three-quarter jeans. Charlie watched her silently, his face unreadable. Claire took a deep breath.

'The scissors are in the end of my bag.'

Charlie's face split into the biggest grin she'd ever seen and he promptly scrambled to his feet and snatched her bag into his arms, pulling forth the scissors with a triumphant air. 'Haven't got a hairbrush in here somewhere too have you?' he asked, peering into the end pocket.

'Nope,' Claire sighed as she sat back down again. 'I've yet to find a hair brush that doesn't go missing within twenty four hours of me finding it.'

'They must not like you,' Charlie joked. 'Luckily I do – and I have fingers that can supplement as a comb.'

Claire peered up at him as he began to comb his fingers through her hair, working the knots out as gently as he could and then parting her hair – an abnormally serious look on his face.

'Centre part?' he guessed.

'As always,' Claire shut her eyes tightly at the first cut of the scissors and she didn't open them until he had finished. First one side and then the other, her long curls dropped onto her knees and she brushed them onto the sand. There seemed to be a lot of hair falling on the ground...

'Done!' Charlie brushed her bangs out straight and Claire opened her eyes slowly.

Only to find Charlie's face less than an inch from hers.

'You want a mirror?'

Claire pressed her lips together and shook her head. 'Nope. Your face says it all.'

Charlie grinned at her. 'It's probably not the latest look but at least its straight.'

Claire kissed him lightly. 'Thank you. Sorry for being such a bitch.'

Charlie laughed out loud but the sound couldn't match the happiness in his eyes or the tenderness in his touch when he sat beside her and took her hand in his, tucking it up to press his lips against the back of it. 'It's okay. I love you anyway.'


End file.
